Pirate Islands

The Pirate Islands was a group of Greek islands in the Cyclades archipelago of the Aegean Sea which came under the control of pirates during the 5th century BC, amidst the chaos of the Peloponnesian War. Keos, Seriphos, and Lestris were taken over by lawless pirates under the admiral Xenia, who punished Athenian slave traders by carving into their heads and sending them back to Attica on the mainland. She was also ruthless towards the local populations, however, and she burned Keos' capital of Koressia to the ground and had every Cean above the age of 60 drink hemlock posion to offset the effects of a food shortage. The pirates never held complete control over the islands, as Sparta and Athens continued to war over control of the region.